1. Field of the Invention
A corrugated container for packaging articles such as chairs.
2. Prior Art
There are a number of multi-piece L-shaped containers for packaging furniture. One of these in standard use is shown in FIGS. 1-5 of the drawings -- FIG. 1 showing the blank of the body panel; FIG. 2 the blank of the top panel; FIG. 3 an exploded view of the furnished container; FIG. 4 the formed container; and FIG. 5 a compression test of this container made with 275 lb. test BC flute.
In this container the body is made from a blank 20 which is divided by score lines 21, 22, 23, and 24 into a front wall 25; an L-shaped side wall 26, a back wall 27, an L-shaped side wall 28 and an attachment flap 29. Bottom flaps are attached to each of the major walls along score line 34; flap 30 being attached to front wall 25; flap 31 being attached to side wall 26; flap 32 being attached to back wall 27; and flap 33 being attached to side wall 28. Closure flaps are also attached to the front and side walls and these form the cover over the body of the container. These are closure flaps 35 and 36 attached to side walls 26 and 28 along score line 37 and 38 respectively and closure flap 39 attached to front wall 25 along score line 40.
The body of the container is shown in FIG. 3. Flap 29 is fastened to front wall 25. The bottom flaps 30 and 32 have been turned inwardly along score line 34 and flaps 31 and 33 turned inwardly underneath them and fastened to them. As will be apparent, score line 34 is not straight but is offset slightly outwardly adjacent flaps 31 and 33. On the upper surface, closure flaps 35 and 36 are bent downwardly over the container body and closure flap 39 is then bent downwardly over the flaps and fastened to them.
The top section is shown in blank form in FIG. 2 and formed in FIG. 3. The blank 50 is divided by score lines 51, 52 and 53 into a back securing flap 54, an upper panel 55, front panel 56 and a lower securing flap 57. Side securing flaps 58 and 59 are attached to panels 55 and 56 respectively along score lines 60 and side securing flaps 61 and 62 are attached to panels 55 and 56 respectively along score line 63. In the formed container, flap 54 attaches to back wall 27, flaps 58 and 59 attach to side wall 28, flaps 61 and 62 attach to side wall 26 and flap 57 attaches to closure flaps 35 and 36. In the container shown closure flap 39 is offset from the neck portion to allow flap 57 to attach to the two lower panels 35 and 36. However, panel 39 may extend to the neck portion and completely overlie the lower panels. In this case flap 57 would attach to panel 39.
The completed container is shown in FIG. 4.
A typical compression test of two sample containers is shown in FIG. 5. In this test the container is set on a surface of the testing machine and pressure applied to surface 55. The curves plot the applied pressure versus the deflection of the container wall in inches. Using samples of 275 lb. test BC flute the maximum compression before collapse of the samples was 730 lbs. and 795 lbs. respectively.
Another approach to this type of container is shown in Bishop, U.S. Pat. No. 2,346,003 and Flynn et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,768. In these, the body is a wrap-around and the L-shaped end panels are separate pieces. Potter, U.S. Pat. No. 1,188,825, shows a four-piece container in which the front panel is taped to the body of the container and the two closure sections are separate units. Cavin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,525, shows a two-piece container similar to the one described in the drawings 1-4; and Gibbons, U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,955, shows a two-piece container in which the neck portion is formed as a separate unit.
A container for shipping lavatories is shown in Osborne U.S. Pat. No. 1,131,948. However, the side panels in the osborne container are not L-shaped. The flaps on the back panels are used to obtain an L-shape over a slight portion of the entire container. Consequently, there is no reinforcement of the critical upper section of this package.